Our Tutors

Nick Ririnui
DRUMS & PERCUSSION
Drummer/Percussionist from Tauranga. Became professional back in 2002 tutoring drums & percussion, playing in various original and cover bands. Nick also takes the drum throne as the resident drummer and facilitator at Mount Brewing Co Brew Bar, Mount Live Lounge jam night in Mt Maunganui.

Melissa Cox
VOCALS - GUITAR - UKULELE - MANDOLIN
Melissa Cox joined the Mauao family in June 2015 as a Vocal Tutor. She also teaches beginner acoustic guitar, beginner and intermediate mandolin, beginner ukulele, contemporary songwriting, composition, lyric writing, and theory.

Claire Gribbin
VOCALS - PIANO - TIN WHISTLE - VIOLIN
Claire is an enthusiastic and fun teacher from Northern Ireland who has been playing music since she was 8 years old. She began by learning the violin and tin whistle in primary school and since then has been involved in an array of different artistic and musical projects.

Derrin Richards
Derrin Richards brings decades of live and studio playing experience to his guitar lessons.

Selina Parsons
PIANO & KEYS
Selina has 32 years experience having studied the piano through The Royal School of Music grades 1 to 8 then qualifying with her ATCL Teacher’s Diploma through Trinity College.

Sean Clancy
GUITAR - BASS GUITAR
Performing concerts, teaching guitar clinics and playing in recording sessions in countries all around the world, Sean Clancy has been teaching guitar and music for 28 years.

Camila Lenhart
GUITAR - VOCALS - VIOLIN - UKULELE
A singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Camila started learning music at the age of 2 years old through classical violin suzuki method. She played amongst some of the best symphonic orchestras in Brazil.

Hanno van den Berg
BASS
"If you want to learn to play Bass I am your dude!". Hanno is a 27 y.o multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter and curious soul. Born on the Eastern shores of South Africa, he committed to the path of his heart in music in 2012, and obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Music majoring in Music Technology in 2016.

Marc Joseph
DRUMS & PERCUSSION
I was born and raised in a musical household where we as a family, music was passionately pursued, expressed and shared constantly to relatives and friends. I started drums at the age of 4yrs and haven't looked back since. I love how it connects me to people, there is so much value in life through music.

Ash Rogers
GUITAR - PRODUCTION
Ash is a guitarist and music producer from Wales. He has been playing guitar for over 15 years and has several years experience teaching and performing. Ash's NZ music career began in Queenstown 5 years ago where he worked as a full-time musician playing regular gigs.

Jenna Palmer
VOCALS
Jenna is a Mezzo Soprano, Singer/Songwriter from Tauranga. Currently a student at The University of Waikato, she studies a Bachelor of Music in Classical discipline and is undergoing Classical voice training. Her vocal education has been established upon the Vaccai and Marchesi methods of Italian singing.
Tyrone Dyer
DRUMS & PERCUSSION
Tyrone graduated from a diploma in music theory and live performance in 2019, performing with many different groups in and outside of Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology. By the time he graduated, Tyrone and a few of his class-mates formed a band that is now putting on shows and releasing original music onto streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music.